Did you save money for maternity leave?

I tried to but there were too many expenses and baby things to pay for that it went out the window - saved a bit in total but not enough to even pay one month's worth of bills 😔

We have about 4k in savings from before luckily we can fall back on, but some of that is being used to buy the expensive stuff while we are both on full pay still so that'll go down before she's born

Managed to save about a month's worth of pay for myself and my husband not much tbh. Unfortunately our rent/bills have increased so much it was so difficult to save as well as buy everything baby needs! Although alot of my friends with kids have said you do somehow just make it work.

We haven’t saved and I’m taking the 12 months, I’m lucky my partner has a good job too and we live within our means. Think everyone’s different but from what I’ve heard people just find a way to manage. I wouldn’t worry too much xx

Due to losing my job at the start of my pregnancy I’ve been living off my savings, my partner has been able to save a bit each month but he’s also been supporting me x

We didn't bother. Saved a ton during mat leave though 🤣

Saved about 4k and will continue to save throughout leave too, I don't want to rely on my husband financially whilst I'm on statutory maternity pay x

I have but just to fund a portion of mat leave so I don't lose out on any pay and I can give my partner some of my statutory under the shared parental leave scheme without it impacting us financially. We are lucky in that my annual bonus and equity this year allowed me to put about 4 months of pay into savings, so once my 22 weeks paid leave is up from the company, I'll then essentially pay myself for four months, then I'll have about a month and half of various bits of annual and accrued leave that have built up. So we're the opposite way around in that my partner will take statutory for about 17 weeks then possibly give up work so we'll be relying entirely on my salary.

I have saved £4300 so far, which is meant to last me at least 3 years, lol! My next paycheck I want to put the whole thing in savings

Yeah, had to. Only getting Statutory Mat pay and my Husbands wage can't cover all the bills. So I've been putting money aside so I can afford to take at least 5 months out to spend with bubba

Yes we wouldn’t have been able to afford mortgage/ bills on just one wage. I’m a teacher and my partner is a policeman. Had to save £5k but I’m £8.5k down from my normal salary across the 9 months I’m off. The savings will just be used for my usual half of the bills/ mortgage

No, however we have savings to fall back on should we need it and my husbands wage covers my loss of earnings over mat leave anyway x

I am saving to cover my half of the houswhold bills, so that my SMP could cover the extras i want, food shops and things I need etc during maternity. I'm only taking 8/9 months

Nope. We have some savings but nothing crazy. We’ve recently moved house (across country) and with baby expenses, there’s been no time for saving 😅

Yes I need to get to 5k by September. Started in Jan and about half way there. If I don’t manage it then I’ll have to go back when my full pay maternity leave runs out as I can’t afford to live off the statutory payment

Saved about 3.5k, this is to be used to help with bills and expenses etc just for the first 6 weeks of maternity before I go back to reduced hours. Hopefully I’ll won’t need to dive into it too much and maternity pay/uc/bd will help cover things but also at the same time, it’s there to be spent if need be. Worked my ass off this whole pregnancy to I can relieve some pressure off myself for at least the first 6 weeks pp